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Charley Walters: Vikings need a cornerback with their first pick in Thursday's NFL draft

Pioneer Press

Posted:
04/17/2010 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated:
04/17/2010 11:38:15 PM CDT

As close as the Vikings were to winning a Super Bowl berth last season, coupled with the likelihood of a return of quarterback Brett Favre, it would seem they would seek immediate help with their No. 30 pick in Thursday's NFL draft rather than pick for the future.

The Vikings are in a win-now mode. The window of opportunity they have probably won't be there when Favre, who turns 41 in October, finally retires.

With Cedric Griffin's knee ligament tear having occurred less than three months ago, coupled with aging, injury-prone Antoine Winfield, it's clear the Vikings' most pressing need is cornerback.

The top cornerbacks in the draft are Joe Haden of Florida and Kareem Jackson of Alabama. The Vikings would love to have either fall to No. 30 in the draft, but that's unlikely.

Still, there are three other impact cornerbacks in the draft, and at least one is expected to be available when the Vikings choose in the first round: Devin McCourty of Rutgers, Kyle Wilson of Boise State and Patrick Robinson of Florida State.

It would be surprising if one of the three isn't the Vikings' top pick on Thursday.

All-star catcher Joe Mauer said Jon Rauch, who has replaced injured Joe Nathan as the Twins' closer and has been successful in each of six save attempts, relies more on finesse than Nathan.

"You might look at the (radar) gun, and Rauch might be a couple of miles slower than Nathan, but he's got a little more deception than Nathan does," Mauer said.

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"Nathan's more of a power guy, and he's always got that slider. Rauch relies on movement and location a little bit more. They're both effective, obviously."

Said Rauch, "I'm not trying to strike guys out, I'm not trying to be somebody I'm not. I'm trusting my defense. All the credit I'm getting now goes to my defense."

Mauer turns 27 on Monday.

The Catholic Athletic Association, Friends of St. Paul Baseball, the Gillette Children's Foundation and the Highland Friendship Club will receive a check today for $5,000 via Mauer as his designated charities for winning the Players Choice Award, emblematic of the American League's best player last season.

Meanwhile, the Highland Friendship Club, which provides for developmental needs of teenagers and young adults with disabilities, received $6,550 from Mauer Chevrolet, owned by former Twins minor leaguer Billy Mauer, Joe's brother.

Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi was AD at Miami (Ohio) in 2001-02 when Ben Roethlisberger was the school's star quarterback. Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers' QB, has been accused of sexual assault by two women.

"I knew him as a young, collegiate student-athlete; he was a good kid at Miami, and obviously an outstanding player," Maturi said. "I don't know what (regarding accusations) happened or did not happen. He has not been charged with anything yet. But obviously, he needs to be careful with his actions.

"You hate to see this happen with somebody you know, somebody you respect, somebody you like. I had nothing but good relations with him as an administrator, he as a student-athlete. But that was a long time ago."

Former Gopher Robb Quinlan is hitting .211 in five games for the Los Angeles Angels' Class AAA Salt Lake Bees club.

New on display this weekend at Target Field's "573 Club" is a copy of former Twin Harmon Killebrew's original contract (from 1954) with the Washington Senators. He signed for three years at $6,000 a year ... and a $4,000 signing bonus.

"Bought a brand-new Chevy Bel Air and paid cash, $2,800," Killebrew said Saturday.

Killebrew was underage (17), so he needed his mother's signature on the contract.

Twins DH Jim Thome's 418-foot shot over the center-field wall Saturday was the 566th home run of his career, leaving him seven behind Killebrew.

The Twins, whose Target Field opener wasn't until April 12, are seeking a similar date for their 2011 home opener because of weather concerns.

Vikings President Mark Wilf is expected to plead for public approval for a new stadium on April 23 at a St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce membership meeting at Prom Center in Oakdale.

Tom Lehman, who will lead a restoration project at Edina Country Club, will be in town April 26 to go over plans.

Ex-Twins backup catcher Mike Redmond, who will be in town with the Cleveland Indians for three games beginning Tuesday, has two hits in 14 at-bats (.143) in four games.

Former Gopher Jordan Schroeder has four goals and five assists in nine games for the Vancouver Canucks' Manitoba Moose team in the American Hockey League. In 37 games for the Gophers last season, the sophomore had nine goals and 19 assists.

In four games for the Worcester Sharks of the AHL, ex-Gopher Tony Lucia has one goal and no assists. Last season for the Gophers, Lucia tied with Schroeder for the team scoring title with 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) in 39 games.

Though her team lost the first game to Sika Brno 80-77 in a best-of-five Czech Republic championship series the other day, former Gopher Lindsay Whalen, the Lynx's new point guard, scored 20 points and had four rebounds for USK Praha. Game 2 is today in Prague.

Whalen is expected to return home near the end of the month. She and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve will be featured at a luncheon and reception for Gophers women's basketball season-ticket holders at the Williams Arena clubroom on May 8.

Former Timberwolves VP Kevin McHale will work with Cheryl Miller on the Turner Sports broadcast of Saturday's Orlando Magic-Charlotte Bobcats NBA playoff game.

Rochester, Minn., Fox TV news anchor Ali Lucia, daughter of Gophers men's hockey coach Don Lucia, will work four St. Paul Saints games as a cable TV reporter this season.

Ralph Strangis Jr., 49, who worked with former North Stars radio voice Al Shaver for three seasons, has three seasons remaining on a play-by-play contract with the Dallas Stars.

Ryan Lefebvre, 39, a former Gophers outfielder, is in town broadcasting for the Kansas City Royals.

Brothers and former Gophers Bob and Pinky McNamara will receive the Distinguished Minnesotan Award today from the National Football Foundation's Minnesota chapter. Former Gophers receiver Eric Decker will receive a scholar-athlete award, and former Vikings QB Rich Gannon will speak at the "Honoring Legends-Inspiring Leaders" banquet at the University of St. Thomas.

Joe Kapp, Tommy Mason and Ron Yary are among former Vikings scheduled to appear at autograph sessions Saturday at a Vikings season kickoff celebration at Mall of America.

There were 400 bicycles parked in racks within 200 yards of Target Field for Thursday afternoon's Twins-Red Sox game. There are 335 bike racks adjacent to the ballpark.

Andrew Aurich, a 2002 graduate of Concordia Academy who went on to start at guard for the Princeton football team, has taken a defensive line graduate assistant job at Rutgers University.

A total of 147 prospects tried out for the Vikings' cheerleader squad the other day. From those, 59 were retained, and that total will soon be reduced to nearly three dozen. Among requirements are taking a history quiz on the Vikings.

Former Cretin-Derham Hall sharpshooter Steve Sir is averaging 17.9 points while making 44.8 percent of his three-point shots for the German Erdgas Ehingen/Urspringschule team.

Tony Oliva and Julio Becquer will be featured speakers at the "Minnesota Twins, the Early Days" Minnesota Black Baseball Discussion Series on May 27 at the Landmark Center in St. Paul.

Anthony Brodeur, son of future hall of fame goaltender Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, is on the Shattuck-St. Mary's golf team after playing goalie for the Faribault school's A bantam hockey team last season.

Former St. Bernard's hockey star Eli Vlaisavljevich of Michigan Tech has been named the WCHA scholar athlete of the year. He has a 4.0 grade-point average in biomedical engineering,

St. Paul's Rodney Hamblin, who shot 70-69 and won $1,500 in the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Healthcare golf tournament at McCormick Ranch last week, is seeking sponsors to continue playing professionally.

St. Paul's Hondo the Magician is performing regularly at ex-Twin Roy Smalley's new "87 Club" in downtown Minneapolis.

Former Hopkins High School boys hockey coach Al Godfrey, a St. Paul Central and Macalester College grad who later scouted for several NHL teams, died at age 75 the other day in Bradenton, Fla.

Yes, that was two-time Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman at the Twins' game against the Kansas City Royals on Friday night in a Target Field suite. Hoffman has a daughter who lives in the Twin Cities.

Some of the Twins' top prospects are struggling at Class AAA Rochester, with catcher Wilson Ramos batting .208, third baseman Matt Tolbert .206, and third basemen Danny Valencia and Luke Hughes each at .167. Former Twin Glen Perkins has pitched just once and has a 6.00 ERA in one start (three innings).

Now that the Tampa Bay Lightning have fired ex-North Star Brian Lawton as general manager, it still seems his successor will be ex-Wild GM Doug Risebrough. And it wouldn't be surprising if Risebrough plucked a member or two from the current Wild staff to join him in Tampa Bay.

On-site ticket brokers were getting $100 just to get into Target Field for Friday night's game.

In the Timberwolves' first season, 1989-90, the expansion team finished with a 22-60 record. This season, the Wolves finished 15-67.

Considering the Gophers' 2010 football schedule, anything better than a 5-7 record would be a coaching success.

The Twins chose to use the upper, back-level bullpen area at Target Field because it's more sheltered from weather elements than the adjacent lower-level mounds.

And the Twins chose the first-base dugout at Target Field rather than the third-base dugout they had at the Metrodome because there is more space on the first-base side of the ballpark.

Major leaguers with 10 years' service receive pensions of $160,000 annually when they reach age 62.

Ryan Walters, the former St. Thomas Academy hockey star who announced earlier he would play for the Gophers, withdrew his commitment on Saturday. Walters was MVP of the U.S. Hockey League's all-star game this year, playing for Des Moines, Iowa, where he played the past two seasons.

A Brett Favre autographed football sold for $1,700 at a "Prevent Child Abuse — Minnesota" benefit auction conducted Friday night by Timberwolves public-address voice Rod Johnson at Mendakota Country Club.

The Vikings will take Florida QB Tim Tebow with the No. 30 pick in Thursday's NFL draft, projects Pro Football Weekly. But the reality is, there is virtually no chance of that happening.

White Bear Lake's Jamie Ogden was a Twins minor leaguer in 1992, when a national baseball publication projected him to be the Twins' Opening Day starter at first base in a new ballpark in 1999. Fast forward to the present: Ogden, 38, is part owner of the Manitou Station restaurant in his hometown, and Target Field is up and running, 11 years behind that schedule.

OVERHEARD

Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson, on his sprint around the bases, head down, after hitting his first home run — and game winner — of the season Saturday against Kansas City at Target Field: "I wanted to get around the bases and get out of there and let the big dogs come up and eat. I don't need to be looking, showing nobody up."